diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index 48613785bae..b1abc1f966d 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -286,9 +286,12 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
             onlyIf { pidFile.exists() }
             // the pid file won't actually be read until execution time, since the read is wrapped within an inner closure of the GString
             ext.pid = "${ -> pidFile.getText('UTF-8').trim()}"
-            File jps = Paths.get(Jvm.current().javaHome.toString(), "bin/jps").toFile()
+            File jps = getJpsExecutableByName("jps")
             if (!jps.exists()) {
-                throw new GradleException("jps executable not found; ensure that you're running Gradle with the JDK rather than the JRE")
+                jps = getJpsExecutableByName("jps.exe")
+                if (!jps.exists()) {
+                    throw new GradleException("jps executable not found; ensure that you're running Gradle with the JDK rather than the JRE")
+                }
             }
             commandLine jps, '-l'
             standardOutput = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
@@ -308,6 +311,10 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
         }
     }
 
+    private static File getJpsExecutableByName(String jpsExecutableName) {
+        return Paths.get(Jvm.current().javaHome.toString(), "bin/" + jpsExecutableName).toFile()
+    }
+
     /** Adds a task to kill an elasticsearch node with the given pidfile */
     static Task configureStopTask(String name, Project project, Object depends, File pidFile) {
         return project.tasks.create(name: name, type: Exec, dependsOn: depends) {